The Cure's Dark Statement

Robert Smith pushes The Cure into the dark, embracing influences from Siouxsie and the Banshees to The Velvet Underground, cementing their artistic integrity over commercial appeal.

Tracklist

  1. A Strange Day — The Cure
  2. Melt! — Siouxsie and the Banshees
  3. The Figurehead — The Cure
  4. Sister Ray — The Velvet Underground
  5. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything — Bauhaus
  6. From the Flagstones — Cocteau Twins
  7. Climbing Up the Walls — Radiohead

Transcript

Welcome to OffStereo. Hope your afternoon's going well. Let's dig in.

You know those nights when a band, right at the peak, decides to leave the hits behind? Instead, they pull out the deep cuts and the songs that shaped them, giving us a glimpse into their true musical heart. It’s a bold move, and we’re here for it.

A Strange Day — The Cure

A Strange Day by The Cure — this is where the thread starts.

Melt! — Siouxsie and the Banshees

In the early 1980s, The Cure deliberately embraced their darker artistic roots and subculture influences, rejecting commercial pressures. Robert Smith's time playing guitar with Siouxsie and the Banshees profoundly shifted his artistic direction, moving The Cure away from a 'punk Beatles' sound. That influence is palpable on tracks like "Melt!"

The Figurehead — The Cure

The Cure, at a pivotal moment, chose to emphasize their raw, introspective side, as heard on "The Figurehead." This track comes from 'Pornography,' an album Robert Smith considered an "ultimate 'fuck off' record," crafted to be "virtually unbearable" and totally inaccessible to commercial tastes.

Sister Ray — The Velvet Underground

The band's artistic integrity also came through in their choice of 'borrowed songs.' Covering The Velvet Underground's lengthy, avant-garde "Sister Ray" was a bold move, paying homage to a band Brian Eno famously said only sold 10,000 copies, "but everyone who bought it formed a band."

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything — Bauhaus

To further assert their deep roots within the burgeoning gothic subculture, The Cure integrated influential tracks from their peers, like Bauhaus's "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything." Bauhaus's 1979 single "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is often cited as the first gothic single, solidifying their shared aesthetic.

From the Flagstones — Cocteau Twins

Robert Smith believed the audience should come to the artist on their own terms, not the other way around. Including a deeply atmospheric, non-single track like Cocteau Twins' "From the Flagstones" reinforces this commitment to artistic depth over commercial appeal.

Climbing Up the Walls — Radiohead

Radiohead, at the height of their post-'OK Computer' fame, could have easily filled a set with their biggest UK singles. Instead, choosing a dense, unsettling album cut like "Climbing Up the Walls" was a statement of their artistic ambition, pushing audiences into darker, experimental corners of their sound.

Thank you for listening to OffStereo tonight. Sometimes, a band's most profound statement isn't in their hits, but in the deeper cuts and the courage to share them.

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